TAKE YOUR INSIGHTS WHEN AND WHERE THEY ARE OFFERED especially when the alternative is to complain and whine about something that can't be changed. I turned to the in-flight publications having gone through my carry-on reading material while waiting over an hour on the tarmac for an already delayed flight - the third of the day! An article about a successful immigrant businessman caught my eye. What inspired further thought was nothing to do with the actual business product or service or how much money the man makes or what he now does with his riches but how this business owner emphasizes the importance of spiritual growth and human values and personal development among his employees especially for anyone who would move up in his company.

The man, the article maintained, holds himself to a higher standard than the dollar and demands no less of his associates. His approach to business (I wish I could remember the man's name) is counter-intuitive, different in practice from most American corporations today although many now use the language of his approach if only for marketing purposes. BP, the largest oil company in the world, for example can say all it wants about being "green" and socially responsible these days but until they stop leading the industry in preventable worksite accidents and deaths, BP will remain the ugly profiteer that it is.

This more uplifting business standard is comprised of three central concerns about employee wellness or said in different words, three concentrations of employee self-interest that if managed properly lead to employee wellness and social happiness and therefore continued business success for the company. The concentrations of interest - are your ready for this? - are spirituality, effective parenting and personal ambition. We get the last, but the first two?

An employee must be ready, willing and able to talk intimately and in detail during ongoing employee reviews about his or her spiritual life, the problems and opportunities of parenting, and lay out what one really wants to accomplish or achieve or acquire, and why. If the employee fails to convey a sincere desire to focus on these interests and to pursue them freely and enthusiastically, passionately if you will, the relationship at least on any promotion-track is abruptly ended. You can readily see what it was about the article that got my attention . . .

The thought of a business leader coming into a room full of employees and talking about the spiritual life, being an effective parent and personal ambition is so refreshing as to make me half reconsider my own choice of profession. Where once an employee was only a commodity or disposable good in the American corporate scheme, and any business relationship was in the corporate nature of things necessarily competitive and therefore all-consuming if one has any aspiration to succeed and advance in the corporate culture, one can almost imagine in this enlightened employment scenario a community of shared interests and mutual cooperation and common vision.

I work for the church as a paid professional because it is the only institution I could see at the time of my choosing that left sufficient room to accommodate my soul's needs. It still seems that way to me. The idea of a successful for-profit company premised in an employee's soul's needs and interests, and not exclusively on profit or client or customer is mind-boggling. If this is true and not simply another exercise in clever marketing, there is hope for the American enterprise system yet . . .

What further caused me to linger over this article while on my way to a vacation destination, and what will continue to hold my attention until I am able to see this thing through into the life of my parish, is the spot on focus of this businessman's vision. He sees the things we see as the people of God, specifically the importance of a relationship with some higher authority beyond the self, the importance of forming sustainable and supportive human relationships that will benefit society over time, and the importance nonetheless of bringing one's own self up to speed in doing the very best that we can and becoming who we are truly meant to be and become.

We of course have our own language in the church for these primary interests, namely the Summary of the Law, but the very fact that a successful contemporary for-profit business owner sees these things as we do is, well, inspiring of hope for the future of "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

I'm looking forward to working this man's standards of interest into the life of the parish, not that we don't already do these things in one way or another but rather because when done with deliberate and intentional purpose such things work out better than they might otherwise. I actually prefer his language insofar as it speaks more directly to identifiable secular needs. The church needs to address real secular needs. Ambition, family and God, perhaps even in that order would be for us coming at things from where common, ordinary everyday people are. It's all about having one's eye on the ball - where people are at - at a time when many in the church have lost this focus and our vision has clouded.